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Spanish media are reporting that between 3,000 and 5,000 people hailing from different cities in Spain, as well as from Portugal and France, rallied this weekend in Salamanca to express their rejection to a uranium mine being built in the Retortillo municipality.
The Salamanca project is Berkeley Energia’s (ASX, LSE: BKY) flagship mine and is located on the Retortillo-Santidad uranium deposit, in the northwestern part of the country. The open-pit mine is expected to produce an average of 4.4 million pounds of uranium per year.
For months, however, the plan has been a target of numerous actions by environmentalist groups, the most recent one organized by the Iberian Antinuclear Movement, whose members advocate for the closure of all nuclear energy projects.
Talking to local journalists, the activists said they decided to march this weekend to take advantage of the current political atmosphere, shaken by the designation of Pedro Sánchez as the new Prime Minister following the corruption scandal that led to Mariano Rajoy’s firing through a vote of no confidence.
According to the demonstrators, uranium exploitation in Salamanca would have serious environmental impacts both in Spain and Portugal. They also said that the project does not make economic sense because of low uranium prices, because it would create very few job opportunities for the local people and because the trend in Europe is to shut down these types of mines due to the dangerous pollution they cause.
Yet, in previous statements, Berkeley has said that the Salamanca Project will provide over 450 direct and 2,000 indirect jobs in the area, “which has seen crippling unemployment following the ceasing of previous mining activities.”
The London/Salamanca-based miner has also said that its proposal adheres “to the highest EU environmental and safety standards, regarded as the most rigorous in the world.”
Prior to this weekend’s protest, Berkeley announced that on June 6 it became the only Spanish mining company listed on the main board of the London Stock Exchange.
15 Comments
Gabri Jim
The mining project has many resources and recommendations in Spain.
The European commission is investigating defects and illegalities.
Portugal is against having not been consulted.
The ombudsman has asked for another new study.
There are no permits from the Spanish Ministry of Industry or the Nuclear Safety Council.
Berkeley only has money for one more year.
Every time there is more opposition and rejection of the population and will continue to increase.
Gabri Jim
https://www.elconfidencial.com/empresas/2018-06-06/uranio-nuclear-salamanca-berkeley-bolsa-mina_1574367/
Gabri Jim
Berkeley Energía, the owner of the uranium mine in Retortillo (Salamanca), warns its investors of the political risk involved in their activity now that they are ready to trade on the Continuous Market. The Australian company, which has announced its debut in Spain on Thursday, explains that there is a risk that the permits and licenses necessary to complete the construction and, later, start the operation could not be obtained, or that its obtaining suffered significant delays.
Paul Atherley
Valentina we have repeatedly requested that you and or your Editor contact us before you publish these articles with such dramatic headlines. Simply repeating claims of “thousands” demonstrating against the mine does you no credit. As you can see from the comments section your article is being used as a mouthpiece for the opposition groups. We send people to these events and count the number attendees and as a general rule of thumb the numbers are exaggerated by a factor of ten. Yesterday’s demonstration was attended by just over 100 people. Significantly less than the previous one. Importantly these demonstrators were bussed in. They are not locals. These events coincide with the number of fully documented job applicants – mainly locals – exceeding 22,000. A better headline might have read “Tens of thousands of local mine job applications dwarf poorly attended opposition demo.” Kind regards Paul Atherley
Curro Mesa
Dear Paul,is that rule of multiplying by 10 the same one that you apply when advertising the number of indirect jobs that you are going to create? and the same for the amount of uranium from Retortillo?
On https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a6185dca4d6ee0d457654f6258a8a3c796fd78fec82e01bea90a77e7310f9d68.png ly in this picture of one the heads of the demonstration there are more than 40 people, how do you count in Australia?
Paul Atherley
Photo of demo courtesy Radio Salamanca
Gabri Jim
In the question posed to the Government, another study was recorded by researchers from the Carlos III Health Institute (Gonzalo López-Abente, Nuria Aragonés and Marina Pollán), published in July 2001 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, in which it affirmed in relationship with the Saelices El Chico mine, that “the most remarkable finding in Ciudad Rodrigo was the highest risk of death from lung cancer in nearby towns (0-15km)”, in addition to kidney cancer and leukemia. Diseases that can not be due to tobacco consumption because “there was no increase in mortality from bladder cancer”. The Government recalls that the answer was to the question that the Nuclear Safety Council is competent to determine the incidence of nuclear and radioactive facilities in Spain. But the CSN only evaluates the relative impact of radioactive contamination, when the facility to be opened also has other conditions that can determine health problems.
http://www.ciudadrodrigo.net/2017/09/14/mina-uranio-retortillo-gobierno-reconoce-riesgo-radiologico-y-quimico-sobre-la-salud-humana/
Gabri Jim
The European Commission has opened an investigation into Spain about the uranium mine that an Australian multinational is trying to exploit in an unpopulated area of Salamanca, a few kilometers from the border with Portugal. If it were to be inaugurated, it would be the only open pit mining of this radioactive mineral in Western Europe. Brussels investigates whether the project complies with several provisions of European Union regulations, including the environmental impact directive and the Habitats directive.
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2017/07/04/actualidad/1499180983_277153.html
Gabri Jim
To the accumulation of difficulties in which the project is immersed to exploit an open-cast uranium mine in Salamanca has added a final stumbling block: the concern for its environmental effects in Portugal. The neighboring country, whose border is located less than 40 kilometers from the land where the mine of the Australian Berkeley is to be built, is claiming Spain “a transboundary environmental impact assessment” that also takes into account the repercussions of the project for the territory luso
“The Portuguese authorities are very concerned about the implementation of this uranium mine and we believe that the Spanish should adopt an attitude of transparency and share information with Portugal,” said Monday the chairman of the Committee on the Environment of the Portuguese Parliament, Pedro Soares , during a visit by a delegation of Portuguese parliamentarians to Retortillo (Salamanca) to gather information about the project.
http://www.publico.es/sociedad/mina-uranio-portugal-exige-espana-consultada-mina-uranio-salamanca.html
Gabri Jim
These are the jobs that Berkeley needs.
In the villages where the mine will be opened, there are no such profiles, which is why it is a lie that the inhabitants of the area are employed.
And the graduates who attend will not live in the area.
“You need to incorporate graduates as Industrial Engineers,
Mining engineers, informatics, geologists, physicists and chemists, operators of
mining machinery, graduates of medium grade as surveyors, engineers
technicians or laboratory technicians and other specialists such as mechanics,
electricians or welders. “
Eva ydy
españolEvery day we are more the ones who fight against this destructive project. NO TO URANIO MINE IN SALAMANCA.
Berkeley provides incorrect information.
Do not
They have all the necessary permits to start.
The ore that they intend to remove is of very low quality.
The people are revealing themselves, each time we are stronger and stronger. It is a livestock area. We will not allow the destruction of our environment and the degradation of our health
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ea09334f9d36a3de4391174475b60cc3d1c2c3c9c90a00fbffe4fd0917cad61.jpg los opositores
Millie Jespersen
Do you want to die from uranium poisoning
NO > Join an activist group
YES > Get a job working in a mine!
Gabri Jim
Madrid, 13 jun (EFE).- El Congreso ha pedido hoy al Gobierno por
unanimidad que paralice el proyecto de la empresa Berkeley de construir
una mina de uranio en la localidad salamantina de Retortillo.
Gabri Jim
http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20180613/4585117513/el-congreso-pide-por-unanimidad-paralizar-la-mina-de-uranio-en-salamanca.html
Personix Generix
The commies/greenies are already holding hostage British Columbia.
Now their kin are again deciding the fate of a sound project.